New Bremen Uses Big Plays to Defeat Minster 27-9

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — The New Bremen Cardinals jumped out in front of the Minster Wildcats early, using the passing of Caleb Williams and the combined rushing and receiving of Spencer Rohr to lead 27-2 at halftime en route to a 27-9 win.

Williams completed just six passes on the night but three of them went for touchdowns as New Bremen gained 214 yards through the air. Rohr caught two of those passes for two touchdowns of 53 and 59 yards while adding another touchdown and 129 yards on the ground for the victorious Cardinals.

“This is the first game we were able to get the ball downfield,” explained New Bremen coach Robert Messick, “Caleb worked very hard on that all week, and the line gave him some protection.”

“Spencer Rohr is a special player,” continued Messick. “We found some ways to get him the football and he responded.”

New Bremen wasted no time as for the second year in a row they scored on the opening drive of the game. On their third play from scrimmage, Williams threw a screen pass to Rohr who outran the Minster defenders for a 59-yard touchdown play and an early 7-0 lead.

The Cardinals forced a quick Minster punt and started their second drive in Wildcat territory. Another long touchdown pass was nullified by offsetting personal fouls on both teams. The Minster defense then held by sacking Williams on fourth down.

The second quarter belonged to New Bremen. On the first play of the quarter, Williams connected with Dillon Otting for a 63-yard touchdown pass. The Cardinals next series featured a 25-yard pass to Ben Chaney before Rohr capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 21-0.

Minster scored their only points of the half when the Wildcat defense pinned New Bremen deep in their own territory. On the Cardinal punt attempt, the snap sailed over the punter’s head and through the endzone for a safety to make the score 21-2.

Minster tried to take advantage of the good field position following the safety, but their drive ended when New Bremen sacked quarterback Adam Niemeyer on a fourth-down play. On the next play, Williams again connected with Rohr, this time for a 53-yard touchdown, to give the Cardinals a 27-2 halftime lead.

In the second half, Minster shut down the New Bremen offense and mounted some of their own. Three times they drove into Cardinal territory, but only cashed in once on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Niemeyer to Ross Heitkamp to provide the final 27-9 score.

Next week Friday 2-3 Cardinals host the 3-2 Fort Recovery Indians. The 1-4 Wildcats play only their second road game of the season versus the 2-3 Versailles Tigers.

SCORE BY QUARTERS
New Bremen  7  20  0 0  —  27
Minster  0  2   0 7   —   9